Dumb AI triggers trillion-dollar clean-up

The age of “vibe-coded” AI comes to an abrupt and chaotic end. After years of letting generative systems write, test, and deploy software at lightning speed, corporations discover that the hidden costs of automation are far higher than anyone imagined.

By 2026, so-called “agentic AI” systems have infiltrated everything from finance to logistics. They optimise, automate, and connect – until they don’t. A handful of small glitches snowball into full-blown crises: a misfiring algorithm triggers a market flash crash, while a wave of AI-driven accounting irregularities forces high-profile restatements and executive resignations. In manufacturing and research facilities, humanoid and industrial robots running on faulty AI commands cause several serious accidents and fatalities, showing how digital errors can have devastating real-world consequences. Across industries, boards realise that much of their digital infrastructure has been quietly rebuilt by systems no one fully understands.

The response gives rise to a new profession of “AI janitors” or pest controllers, elite human coders and auditors tasked with tracing, neutralising, and rebuilding flawed systems. Global consulting and cybersecurity firms scramble to meet demand as trillions are poured into repairing, securing, and simplifying critical codebases. Governments rush to impose transparency and safety requirements as public confidence in autonomous technology falters. Enter mandatory “human-in-the-loop” controls, rollback architectures, provenance logs, model registries and hardened kill switches, plus higher capital charges for systems without independent fail-safes.

For investors, this becomes the next defining phase of the AI era. The winners are no longer those who promise to automate everything, but those who can clean up, stabilise and defend it. The trillion-dollar clean-up transforms from an embarrassment into an opportunity, proof that in the age of dumb AI utilisation, the smartest money is in fixing the mess and doing it right in the first place.

Market impact: Cybersecurity, audit and consulting firms see surging revenues, valuations of highly autonomous AI platforms face pressure and investors rotate toward companies offering resilience, oversight and human control.